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Competition for battery factory is obviously the impetus for this, and is discussed, but he refers to the independent dealer requirement as "old, and some would say antiquated protection in there for the car dealers" and said how the world is changing. The strange part is he talks about consumers being able to "negotiate" directly with the manufacturer rather than buy directly. "I think the people of Texas are basically going to say, you know what, we don't need to be protected. We like being able to negotiate straight away."

Texas legislature only meets every two years though, next session starts Jan. 13, 2015.

One of the people that needs protection from the big evil manufacturers.

Forbes #712 Dan Friedkin - Net Worth $2.5 Billion

Dan Friedkin is owner and chairman of Gulf States Toyota, joining the Billionaires list for the first time this year after completing a transfer of assets from his father, Thomas Friedkin. For the past two decades Dan has worked on growing their company, an auto distributorship that has the exclusive rights to import and distribute Toyota vehicles in Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Oklahoma. It's the largest private business in Houston. He and his father, founder and chairman emeritus of the company, have had a hand in the processing and distribution of every Toyota sold in these states since 1968, profiting through the sale of cars as well as car parts. With $7 billion in revenues in 2012, theirs is one of only two remaining independent Toyota distributors in the U.S. He also owns and oversees other automotive investments including two Lexus dealerships in Houston. Thomas Friedkin is a former Hollywood stunt pilot and actor, with credits in 11 movies, and he and Dan share a passion for restoring and flying vintage military war planes. They own one of the largest such fleets in the country, frequently flying in commemorative events to honor members of the armed services. Through family-owned luxury travel and safari operators and the Friedkin Conservation Fund, a charitable organization established by the family to conserve the habitat and wildlife on more than seven million acres in Tanzania, the Friedkins have also contributed over $100 million to support wildlife conservation and anti-poaching efforts in East Africa. Dan also serves as chairman of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission. In December 2013 he invested in Auberge Hotels, a luxury hospitality management firm, and was named chairman.

Hey, I like dealers money if they give it to me I've been lobbying here for a new ICE tax of ~1% on any new ICE that would be used to fund the subsidy for EV's. This way it's most likely eaten up by the dealership as the final price of the car is anyway a negotiation between customer and dealer and the small 1% tax just disappears in it. But the small tax would easily sustain a healthy growth of EV's. The policy makers were quite interested in the idea as the EV subsidy we have right now (originating from a CO2 quote sale to Mitsubishi) ends next year and there's no way the government would just fork out money from their own wallet. But a tax on ICE's might work, especially if it's small enough We already have a similar tax for electricity. Every single person pays €0.0077 / kWh renewables tax that is pooled together and paid out to everyone who produces renewables at a rate of €0.054 / kWh I basically used the same formula to try to create a steady cash flow for EV adoption.

Competition for battery factory is obviously the impetus for this, and is discussed, but he refers to the independent dealer requirement as "old, and some would say antiquated protection in there for the car dealers" and said how the world is changing. The strange part is he talks about consumers being able to "negotiate" directly with the manufacturer rather than buy directly. "I think the people of Texas are basically going to say, you know what, we don't need to be protected. We like being able to negotiate straight away."

Texas legislature only meets every two years though, next session starts Jan. 13, 2015.

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WEEEEEEEEEE. alright! moving in the right direction.....now if only the other politicians are smart enough to change this law.

I think it was MY post on his Twitter page.:smile: I watched him talking on "Americas Newsroom" about how he understands freedom so much better than the President. I asked him if he understands freedom so well, why wont he let Tesla sell cars in Texas?
I think he's basically gonna blame the legislature and not take any responsibility, or show any backbone or leadership. The whole thing is pretty sickening with all the whoring and no integrity, or true principles. But the free market WILL prevail. People want these cars, and they HATE dealerships. It's over. It just may take a while.

Unfortunately there was useful content in some of those posts, but they also include "that term" that is inflaming partisan arguments. So please repost your comments without said term.

It would be nice if people could discuss EV-related political issues without descending into partisan bickering. So I'm strictly enforcing the policy here. The moment bickering even thinks of rearing its ugly head, I will evict every post that touches on it. You have been warned.

The risk of that is throwing out the baby with the bath water. I understand your sensitivity but you simply can not discuss politicians without acknowledging politics.

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It's not my sensitivity that is the issue. I'm trying to preserve the integrity of the discussion.

Yes, I acknowledged in my message that there were some babies swept up with the bath water. In fact I acted too slowly because one good post got an "--- updated ---" attached to it that quoted the "charged words". So it got thrown out. I encourage those whose babies got thrown out to repost their comments.

The reason I'm stepping in early and hard is that these "politics versus sales model" threads have tended to go into the partian-name-calling soup very quickly. I'd like these threads to be able to continue with constructive dialog. The moment someone takes offense it spirals into the toilet, and I often can't extract the babies. A short while ago I had to throw out two pages of posts because of bickering that just wouldn't stop. So now I'm stomping on it as early as I can. Subject to the fact that I have a life...

GST is the firm that puts $25 of options (extra mile package) on every Toyota and charges $650. While it's possible to order a car without it, you'll wait a long time for delivery. The operative work is crooks.